


One Small Step

by Winter_of_our_Discontent



Series: The Final Frontier [1]
Category: Supernatural
Genre: AU, Anthropomorphic, Gen, M/M, Other, Space!AU, comet!Castiel, inspired by the Rosetta mission, lander!Dean
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2014-12-22
Updated: 2014-12-22
Packaged: 2018-03-02 18:47:03
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 510
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/2822390
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Winter_of_our_Discontent/pseuds/Winter_of_our_Discontent
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>When Neil Armstrong first set foot on the moon, he was supposed to say “One small step for a man, one giant leap for mankind.” Unfortunately, he forgot the ‘a,’ making the sentence heard by millions of… mankind...  rather redundant.</p><p>No one had given the tiny robotic landing craft any memorable words to say, nor were its utterances being broadcast live to millions of people worldwide. This was probably just as well, since its first words upon landing on the comet Castiel turned out to be <i>Son of a bitch!</i></p><p>This time at least the ‘a’ had definitely been present.</p>
            </blockquote>





	One Small Step

When Neil Armstrong first set foot on the moon, he was supposed to say “One small step for a man, one giant leap for mankind.” Unfortunately, he forgot the ‘a,’ making the sentence heard by millions of… mankind...  rather redundant.

 

No one had given the tiny robotic landing craft any memorable words to say, nor were its utterances being broadcast live to millions of people worldwide. This was probably just as well, since its first words upon landing on the comet Castiel turned out to be _Son of a bitch_!

 

This time at least the ‘a’ had definitely been present.

 

The lander continued swearing a blue streak in ones and zeroes as it bounced several more times before finally coming to rest in a cloud of dust.

 

The comet heard, of course. It had been hit by (and hit) thousands of things over the course of its existence, but most of them hadn’t been yelling at the time.

 

 **YOU ARE VERY LOUD** , it rumbled.

 

_Aaaaa! Dude, pot, kettle!_

 

**WHAT?**

 

_Hey whoever and whatever you are, turn it down! My sensors ain’t calibrated for this!_

 

 **My apologies,** the comet said, making an effort to rumble more quietly.

 

 _Uh, yeah, well… thanks,_ the lander said, awkwardly. It began taking readings in all directions, trying to pinpoint the source of the voice. _Sorry, didn’t expect anyone else to be here, they didn’t really build me for first contact. Uh, I come in peace and all that stuff. Where are you? Where’re you from? You an alien? Shit, should’ve paid more attention to Star Trek._

**You’re currently located on top of me.**

 

The lander beeped in surprise. _Dude! Wait, you’re the COMET? You’re Castiel?_

 

 **Castiel?** the comet asked, consideringly.

 

_Yeah. It’s the angel of Thursdays. ‘cause you were first spotted on a Thursday or something._

 

The comet had no idea what an angel was, or a Thursday. It worried it might be rude to ask.

 

_I mean, I guess it’s kinda rude, though, uhh… so what do you call yourself?_

 

The comet vibrated its signature frequency in a low forty one millihertz voice.

 

The lander tried to reproduce the sound for a few moments before giving up. _Shit. Gotta be honest, that’s a little hard for me to pronounce._

 

The comet quickly added **but Castiel is fine.**

 

_Okay. Cool. I’m Dean. ‘m from Earth. It’s about ten years thataway._

**Hello, Dean.**

 

_Hey Cas._

 

The comet decided it liked both angels and Thursdays.

 

_So do all comets talk? Can you talk to each other?_

 

 **All comets can communicate in this manner, as well as a few other celestial bodies,** the comet answered, thinking fondly of its many siblings scattered among the stars. **It allows us correspondence across the vast distances.**

 

_Wow. Huh. You’ve got a nice vibration. Kinda like music. I mean, it’s not exactly Zeppelin, but…_

 

**What is Zeppelin?**

 

And that was how the comet ended up hearing _Kashmir_ for the first time, performed to the best of its ability by a tiny lander very far from home.

 

The comet thought it sounded beautiful.

 

 

**Author's Note:**

> So I was thinking about the Rosetta mission and comets and Castiel and the music of the spheres (Comets actually do sing! http://www.smithsonianmag.com/smart-news/comet-has-welcome-song-rosetta-and-philae-180953303/?no-ist) and this happened.
> 
> Thanks to vulgarweed for the beta!
> 
> You can find me on tumblr at bamfinacuddlyjumper.
> 
> Happy holidays and thanks for reading!


End file.
